by ©2021 Sarah Becker Ratification ERA – 2021 Sometimes fate has a way of writing a new chapter. In truth, the ongoing fight for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment [ERA] has left me fatigued. But now—with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation—for reason of sexual misconduct—the arrival of New York State’s first female Governor, the AFL-CIO’s first female President—the political worm has turned. On March 17, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives again passed the Equal Rights Amendment. My only question: By what date will Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin [D-IL], Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer [D-NY] deliver an affirmative vote? The American Heritage dictionary defines chauvinism as the “prejudiced belief in the superiority of one’s own group.” The Oxford American Dictionary defines chauvinism as “excessive or prejudiced support or loyalty;” a male chauvinist as a “man showing excessive loyalty to men and prejudice against women.” The New Jersey constitution “granted the right to vote to ‘all free inhabitants’ thus enfranchising women until 1807: when a new state constitution restricted suffrage to males.” The U.S. Census Bureau defined the term free inhabitant in 1790. “Assistant marshals listed the name of each head of household, and asked the following questions: The number of free White males aged under 16 years, of 16 years and upward; Number of free White females; Number of other free persons, and Number of slaves. Free inhabitants were not listed individually until 1850. In one of the colonial era’s few examples of women’s suffrage, Lady Deborah Moody was permitted to vote in a Long Island town meeting in 1655. Of greater interest—to me at least—was the women’s literacy measure. “The determination was made on the basis of women’s ability to sign their names to documents with either an ‘X’ or a written signature. Massachusetts’ illiteracy…
Read America! By Parker A. Poodle™ Hello, Alexandria! I, Parker A. Poodle, am reporting from the backseat of my mistress’ car. We have just crossed the 14th Street Bridge en route to The White House. Massachusetts-er John Adams—slaveless property owner, husband of Abigail, father of three and dog owner of two—was the first President to inhabit The White House. His stay was short, four months. The election of 1800, Adams v. Jefferson, was bitterly fought. Adams dogs, Juno and Satan, were the first First dogs to dabble in Washington politics. To—how shall I say?—speak smartly, snarl angrily, perhaps pee on The White House lawn. March 2 is National Read Across America Day and, as biographer David McCullough confirms, children “should read history.” “If it should be the Design of Providence that you should live to grow up, you will naturally feel a Curiosity to learn the History of Causes which have produced the late Revolution of our Government,” John Adams wrote son John Quincy in 1777. “It will become you to make yourself Master of all the considerable Characters….” Reading Education Assistance Dogs are characters, of a type. We went home by way of the Alexandria library. Children are educated. Dogs are trained. I entered the library quietly. George Washington’s Breakfast, a book by Jean Fritz explains the library process. “The librarian smiled when she saw [a poodle patron] come through the door,” Fritz noted. “[I] walked up to the desk” and sat. The librarian “picked out four [children’s] books to take home,” then “promised that she would look at the rest.” “As [George] Washington was the father of our country and [Thomas] Jefferson the author of its ideals, John Adams was the champion of government,” Cheryl Harness wrote in The Revolutionary John Adams. “When the Congress…
by Sarah Becker ©2017 George Washington’s Death and Holiday “Remembering that all must die…I hope you will bear the misfortune with that fortitude and complacency of mind, that become a man and a Christian,” General George Washington wrote in 1777. Washington died at home on December 14, 1799, at age 67. His death surprised the nation. On the morning of December 12, 1799, Washington departed on horseback to inspect his Mount Vernon property. It was a bad weather day; he rode in rain, hail and snow. When he returned home for dinner “his neck appeared to be wet, and the snow was hanging from his hair.” He sat down to eat rather than change his clothes. The next day Washington complained of sickness. His wife Martha noticed he could barely speak, was hoarse and having trouble breathing. The cold and snow continued; Martha’s request for medical help denied. General Washington was stricken with inflammatory quinsy. A variety of home and physician remedies were administered, including a mixture of molasses, vinegar and butter…sal volatile…blister of cantharides…sage tea and vinegar…calomel, as well as tartar emetic. None eased the inflammation. Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, age 37, one of two Alexandria doctors called for consultation, recommended a tracheotomy to ease the General’s breathing. Dr. James Craik, age 70, and Maryland’s Dr. Gustavus Brown refused his advice. Instead Dr. Craik bled Washington for the fourth time, taking five pints of blood in total. Soon after General Washington summoned wife Martha to his side. He requested two documents, burned one and placed the other, his chosen will and testament in her closet. “I die hard, but I am not afraid to go…My breath cannot last long,” Washington told Drs. Craik, Dick and Brown. He then “bid adieu to Sublunary Scenes.” “It is with inexpressible grief, that…